In last month’s article, we discussed the fact that because ours is only an edited reality which is the result of an interpretative process based on our unique life experiences, it is as though we each read only our own individual newspaper and perceive reality through a filter we are mostly unaware of. Indeed, we don’t get to choose our newspaper, we cannot read any other one and everyone else reads a different one – from mine, yours and each other’s.

It is a wonder that we agree on anything! But let’s not despair: there is a silver lining to all of this. Enter: attention. Tell me if I have this wrong, but I have a feeling that most of us think of attention as voluntary – as in "paying attention". Let me challenge that view and posit that, in fact, our attention is mostly up for grabs: my neuroscience studies have taught me that our capacity to perceive reality is filtered, in fact intermediated in multiple ways, as well as partial (for more on this, see renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman’s discussion: http://www.eagleman.com/blog/umwelt). It is because we pay attention in such a narrow fashion that we end up reading our own unique and confined newspaper.

I have therefore come to understand that attention, far from being mainly the product of our volition, in fact mostly emerges out of processed perception. In consequence, ours is a bounded reality we confuse for the world at large. This is a sobering thought which can feel disempowering. But if our attention defines our reality, then surely attention is also the instrument thanks to which we can shape our reality. I agree with Wallace that "[e]ach of us chooses, by our way of attending to things, the universe we inhabit" (see Allan Wallace’s book ‘The Attention Revolution’, 2006). We can expand our horizons by consciously, explicitly, choosing what to attend to.

At this point in my neuroscience journey, I appreciate better – and want to share with you today – the nature of attention as it relates to our brains’ sensory processes and the ensuing construction of human perception. While we are not in touch with what I will dub ‘full reality’, we can thankfully reassure ourselves that, by leveraging our consciousness, we can exert influence over what we attend to and thus modify our reality – thus challenging our ‘newspaper syndrome’.

So what? Indeed, why would we go to this trouble? Said otherwise, why should we not accept the limited reality which is presented to us? It seems plenty is wrong with such submissiveness. Wallace, again, contends that, without the capacity to place our attention, "[w]e can’t study, listen, converse with others, work, play, or even sleep well" (idem). Apart from the obvious discomfort which must ensue from such fundamental dysfunctions, what is really at stake is our happiness. Lacking the capacity to focus robs us of choice and leaves us vulnerable to the myriad stimuli in and out there, waiting to turn us into weathercocks. Consider how upset you are when someone decides in your place: and yet your unconscious decides much more often than your conscious. So let me encourage you to pay attention, more and more often: stop reading that newspaper and look further afield!

If you’d like to tell me about your behaviour and/or your brain, you will find me at alexandra@coachingforinspiration.com. In the meantime, relax and let your brain look after you!

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Alexandra helps ambitious and high-performing professionals tackle their frustration at work so that they resolve a complex problem, find a way out of a difficult situation or achieve a personally-meaningful objective.

As a Career Accelerator, Alexandra works with Directors/VPs, Executive Directors/SVPs, and MDs to obtain the promotion they deserve, orchestrate an in-house move to a different group, succeed fast in a new role as well as get clear about their next job and how to find it.

Alexandra’s clients get to do more interesting work which they enjoy, avoid becoming stuck in one job when in fact they want variety, and learn to lead and work through others if they wish to. That way, they make a greater difference to their firm and, of course, grow their income!

Alexandra will share with you stories and insights from her gratifying but eventful 23-year career in global finance, from Paris to the City of London via New York's Wall Street which you can use to accelerate your career faster than on your own!

You will greatly benefit if

• You have a track record of achieving in your work
• You know what you want but are unsure how to get it
• You like to get results
• You honestly want to look at your issues and aspirations
• You like to take responsibility
• You are open to new ideas
• You do not object to trying new things
• You understand the value of practice in making a difference